#target killings

[ptcnews-blog]

US Sikh council again raised voice to ban Indian officials in Gurudwaras

US Sikh council again raised voice to ban Indian officials in Gurudwaras. US Sikh council again raised voice to ban Indian officials in Gurudwaras : An organisation

[punjabspectrumlive]

NIA Harass Man And Force Him To End His Life ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ਦੱਸਦਾ ਕਿ ਬੰਦੇ ਨੂੰ ਚੱਜ ਨਾਲ ਦਿੱਸਦਾ ਵੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ ਤੇ ਐਨ ਆਈ ਦਬਾਅ ਪਾ ਰਹੀ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਕਹਿ ਮੈਂ ਦੇਖਿਆ ਕਤਲ ਐਨ ਆਈ ਏ ਨੇ 55ਸਾਲਾ ਵਿਅਕਤੀ ਨੂੰ ਆਤਮ ਹੱਤਿਆ ਲਈ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਰ ਕੀਤਾ, ਹੁਣ ਕੌਣ ਕਰੂ ਦਿਵਾਊ ਇਨਸਾਫ ਇਸ ਪਰਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ, ਕੋਣ ਕਰੂ ਜਾਂਚ The NIA had been questioning him repeatedly about the incident while investigating the targeted killings in Punjab.

[andaleebrizvi]

Kill or get killed is not the question

Humans are funny creatures. Specially the supposedly civilized ones. Due to the elections in US and near future, Pakistan, the drone debate has been gaining momentum. Incidentally, Malala's case has also provided an opportunity to legitimize drones and perhaps a military operation. While the politicians might have a totally different interest in such 'for' and 'against' debates, the discussions and dialogues regarding the current socio-political conditions in Af-Pak among the 'privileged gentry' is getting more complicated and heated. If one wants, the drone debate can be broadly divided among three factions. First being the ones who do not support drones; second, who support drones and dump civilian casualties as 'collateral damage' and the last [hopefully] are the ones who support drones, "because there is no other 'immediate' solution". Key word here is immediate, and if you are not proposing an immediate solution, be prepared for ad hominem questions, "Are you proposing we have a round-table conference with the Taliban? How many Malala's do you want shot or murdered before you support drones?" or... "If not drones, what else? A military operation by the Pakistan Army? Do you know how many casualties that would cause?" Once you respond negatively to these questions, next come hyperbolic statements like, "So you mean there should be no 'action' against the Taliban, and we should let them continue in the same manner." Apparently the only course of 'action' is killing, even if it means civilian deaths, which of course are mere statistics when compared with the 'militant deaths'. For someone who neither supports the Taliban, nor the War on Terror, there are stark similarities between the 'pro-drone-club' and the 'terrorists'. Both support killing people in the name of their cause. Both are imperialistic in nature. It has become a never ending vicious cycle. The need is not to kill but to reverse the radical mentality on both ends of the spectrum. More than a change of faces, there should be a demand for changing the system. A system that does not lead to oppression resulting in the formation of interest groups - where my children don't have leverage over yours because of their nationality, race, ethnicity, class or religious affiliation. Where human rights activists do not support stealth mode targeted killings, death penalty and wars. 

[nishtarpark-blog]

As Karachi Burns, the Show Goes on

Karachi is burning again. Just like the violence that broke out in Pakistan’s largest metropolis last summer, it isn’t about ethnicity, or religion, or nationalism.  It’s about money.

As the violence started on Monday morning, my Twitter stream was peppered with Karachiites reporting events unfolding in their neighborhoods.  Gunshots, buses on fire, petrol pumps shut down.  But as the evening breeze hit Karachi, short-term amnesia seemed to hit the Twitterverse as live tweets from Showcase started clogging up my stream.

They say that Karachiites have become accustomed to the violence that has grappled the city for much too long.  But there is a difference between being accustomed and being absolutely oblivious, numb, and insensitive.

So Karachi's thugs kill indiscriminately for money. Its leaders and elite indulge in the finer things in life. Meanwhile, a different show goes on for the common citizens, who struggle to make it through another day of fire, bullets and death.

Photo credit: tribune.com.pk

[wastedellia-blog]

Are we having fun yet?

By Sami Shah

You have no excuse to be bored anymore. Too often have we unimaginatively complained about a lack of things to do in Pakistan. Until recently, we thought our options were limited to being blown up by terrorists, shot by target killers or chucking rocks at passing cars. No more. The average Pakistani has a wealth of recreational activities to choose from now.

For starters, you can go online and watch videos that may or may not be of someone who may or may not look and sound exactly like the man who is or isn’t Aamir Liaquat. For those who aren’t familiar with the man, his website describes him as “a man of many qualities, prominent scholar who possesses a pleasing disposition, veteran journalist whose name becomes synonymous with truthfulness and bravery in the field of journalism, prolific columnist whose articles inspire his readers…”. He can now add ‘viral sensation’ to this list of impressive credentials. The video in question, that is currently being shown gleefully by children to their mother’s across Pakistan, is a selection of behind-the-scenes footage that proves that Aamir Liaquat(when he isn’t advocating ‘A Moderate Humanistic Ideology’, selling cooking oils or demanding we kill Ahmadis) has as terrible a sense of humour and as vile an off-air-personality as we all suspected. Either that or it was a grand conspiracy by a rival network to dethrone him from the ratings by employing careful dubbing and the same animation team that created James Cameron’s Avatar.

If you lack internet connectivity, you need not despair. If you live in interior Sindh, you can take part in the annual game of ‘Devastated by Flooding’ that the government lets you play every year. It’s quite exciting. Every year, at the same time as the year before, monsoon rains will cause river waters to destroy your house, livelihood and possibly your life itself. The first person to react with shock at the lack of government preparedness loses. The winner gets to survive through civilian aid and tenacity and gets to go back and rebuild their life so they can take part in the game again next year.

Still haven’t found anything to your liking? Then why not have a Sitara-i-Imtiaz? Here, have three. This August 14, the presidency was gracious enough to clarify the criteria for receiving this highest of national honours. All you have to do, it turns out, is pass within a 10-mile radius of Bilawal House. Given the vast number of PPP members who got it for simply loitering on the grounds of the Bhutto compound, it is only a matter of time before we all get one.

A new theory in children’s education dictates that to prevent children from feeling inadequate, schools no longer give binary pass/fail grades or winner/loser status in sports. Everyone is a winner and everyone passes. This, apparently, encourages participation. By giving everyone a Sitara-i-Imtiaz, all President Zardari is doing is showing that you are all special. Unfortunately, if everyone is special, then it also holds true that no one is.

Patient people can also wait for China to start mass-producing stealth helicopters like the one we apparently shared with them after the American’s were kind enough to leave it behind as a ‘thank you’ present. It’s only a matter of time before we can all afford a cheaply made Chinese version, mass-produced to evade radar detection, have a torch on the end and carry four SIMs at once.

The Americans, masters of entertainment, have created many more opportunities for us. If you love cinema you can watch a movie in 3D, if you love foreign affairs you can watch them grudgingly commit to a partnership and if you are an infant you can let one of their precise drone strikes kill you.

So you see, there is no excuse for boredom anymore. Just don’t let all the excitement kill you.